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Despite the efforts of a handful of Riverside County lawmakers, a controversial bill that would pave the way for a massive hydroelectric energy storage project on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park has been shelved for now, leaving the Eagle Mountain project still without a clear path forward.

The project would use abandoned iron mining pits to store billions of gallons of groundwater, pumped from the Chuckwalla Valley aquifer. Once operational, the facility would use abundant daytime solar power to pump water from a lower retention area to a higher elevation. When solar energy production dips at night and demand goes up, the water would be released, flowing down through turbines. The operation essentially time-shifts solar energy, turning the water-gravity combo into a solar power "battery" in the middle of the desert.

Matching solar energy production with demand has become increasingly challenging since the renewable energy source became a significant part of utility-scale energy portfolios. Daytime solar energy production in California sometimes outpaces demand, with little in the way of storage options.

Proponents, like state Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula, say the plan is a good way to help the state meet its 100% renewable energy goals. The project would bring jobs as well, Stone said.

But finding a utility that would buy and transport the stored energy has been a challenge.

The bill, SB 772, would have required the state to solicit, then procure, up to 4,400 megawatts of "bulk energy storage" over the next decade. The bill is tailored to help the Eagle Mountain project get off the ground. If the bill would have passed, it would have provided a buyer, in the state, for the electricity that would be served by project.

The bill was coauthored by Sen. Stone and Assembly members Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, and Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella. All three have received campaign contributions from Eagle Crest Energy Company and their partner on the Eagle Mountain project, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. Garcia has gotten the most — about $19,000 — from the two companies.

Environmentalists opposed to the project say it's a bad idea to fill abandoned mines with water, because it could lead to leaching chemicals into the groundwater system. And, they argue this is a bad use of the valuable groundwater in the Chuckwalla Valley aquifer.

Stone said the bill ultimately failed because of the arguments made by environmentalists, and because the utilities argued that the cost of the project is too high to justify.

The bill had been passed by key California Senate committees, but failed during a vote of the entire Senate. This year's bills needed to pass out of their chamber of origin this week in order to continue advancing. The bill's author, Senator Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, had the bill placed into the "inactive file," meaning the bill is all but done for until next year.